I Saw the Light Page #5

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Yes. Could you tell him,

"I need to talk to you,

you son of a b*tch"?

- Did you get that?

- Uh, yes, ma'am.

Good.

No, thanks.

Afternoon, Mr. Nowlin.

This ain't gonna cut it, fellas.

Yes, sir. I'm real sorry. I understand.

I... You see, Hank's come down

with something real bad,

and, well, he's just too damn sick

to perform up to our usual standards.

I don't know what's up with you, Williams,

but you're going up on that stage,

and you're gonna give these folks,

who've been waiting hours for your ass,

a fine piece of yourself.

You understand?

Thank you, sir.

That the doctor?

Or whatever he is

that does these kinds of things.

Well, come on in.

Let's get this over with.

I don't want to

wait a whole lot longer.

Ladies and gentlemen,

I have an announcement.

Hank Williams is here!

And he is ready to give you the show

you've been hoping for.

Hank Williams, everyone!

Come on, Hank!

Any of you folks know

my half-brother, Luke?

My good friend, Luke the Drifter?

Hell, I don't know

where they got the Luke part,

but I can sure tell ya

where they got the Drifter part.

I'd like to tell you a story.

About a family I once knew.

Why don't we call 'em William and Mary

and their little daughter Sue.

Now, Mary was just a plain mother,

and Bill, well, he was a usual dad.

And they had their own

little family quarrels,

but neither one ever really got mad.

And then one day something happened.

And it was nothing, of course.

But one word led to another,

and the last word led to a divorce.

Now, here were two grown-up people

who 'd failed to use common sense.

They strengthened their own selfish pride

at little Sue's expense.

...eight, nine, 10, 11, 12...

They sold me 13 roses.

You know, we'll save one for Hazel.

Thanks for doing all the driving, Don.

Sure. You want me to stick around?

Nah, you're fine.

Hank, I've been thinking.

Uh-oh.

We've been running pretty hard.

Maybe I've been too reluctant

to speak up about some things.

You've been fine.

Whatcha gonna do?

You know,

my uncle told me

Grant was drunk

every afternoon by 3:00.

But he still took Vicksburg.

Yeah, I guess he did.

I'll see ya, then.

I'll see ya.

Hey.

How long you been here?

A little bit.

It took you long enough.

I just got off the road.

- How are you?

- How'd you do?

We made out okay.

How's my boy?

He's okay.

How much?

Where's he at?

He's at the house. Where you think?

Billboard says we did

$11,000 paid last week.

I heard you and Luke

had some trouble in Texas.

Yeah.

What is it, baby?

You gonna be okay?

Am I gonna be okay?

Hell.

You know, you come home

from God knows wherever you are,

and then we sleep together.

You haven't a damn clue.

You did this to me, Hank.

You're the bastard

that caused me to suffer like this.

What are you saying?

God, you're barely even here.

You're barely even a father now.

And, well,

you couldn't have handled

being more of one.

What did you do?

You can't... You can't do that without me.

Well, it's done.

Thank you,

ladies and gentlemen. Thank you very much.

Thank you, friends.

And that about wraps it up for today.

All right, all right,

there a little more in store, isn't there?

I almost forgot about the man y'all

come to say hello to and rightly honor.

He's my very, very good friend.

One of the finest songwriters

I've ever had the pleasure to know.

So, let's welcome,

at his Montgomery Homecoming Day,

a great and loyal son of Alabama,

Hank Williams!

Hank Williams!

Hey, buddy.

Well, hello, Montgomery.

It's always good to be back here.

I thank y'all so much.

I thank you.

I much appreciate the warm welcome

you've given to me and my family.

My mother, Lillie.

My beautiful wife, Audrey.

My little lady, Lycrecia.

My big boy, Bocephus!

Now, right now, I got a little song for ya.

It's been awful good to me and the boys.

It's bought us quite a

few beans and biscuits.

It's called

Good Looking, You Got Anything Cooking,

How About Cooking It Up With Me?

Hey, good lookin'

Whatcha got cookin'?

How's about cookin' something up with me?

Said, hey, sweet baby

Don't you think maybe

We could find us a brand-new recipe?

I got a hot-rod Ford and a two-dollar bill

And I know a spot right over the hill

There's soda pop and the dancing's free

So if you wanna have fun

Come along with me

Said, hey, good lookin'

Whatcha got cookin'?

How's about cookin' something up with me?

Don Helms.

I'm free and I'm ready

So we can go steady

How's about savin' all your time for me?

I like that hotel pretty good.

You think all hotels are good.

Oh, yeah.

Ah, here we are.

Where are you gentlemen going?

Perry Como Show.

Thank you, sir.

Thank you.

- It was a good show, man.

- It was.

You sure couldn't get

that damn jingle right, could you?

Don't you know there's 20 smokes

in a pack of Chesterfields?

I know damn well there's

20 smokes in a pack of Chesterfields.

And I'll tell you something else.

Ol' Hank didn't come all the way

from South Alabama to New York City

to sing in a damn cigarette commercial,

that's for damn sure.

Gentlemen want another round,

or have you hit your limit

- on soda water?

- Yes, ma'am! We do.

Yeah, I'm good.

Have a damn drink, boys.

Babysittin' hour's about up.

Thank you.

Yes, please, ma'am.

Mr. Williams.

James Dolan from the Tribune.

Really sorry I'm late.

You don't like doing this much, do you?

Well, it comes with the job.

You know what I don't like

is people pretending one thing

and they got something else on their mind.

You do what I do, you get where I am,

you see plenty of that.

People thinking they'll make a nice pie

with a slice of me.

Well, I'm only looking to give people

some insight into you.

Why you write what you write,

sing what you sing.

I write what I write and I sing what I sing

'cause that's what I do.

Ain't much choice, really.

As an artist.

That's your word.

You are offering your fans something.

What would you say that is?

Mr. Dolan,

everybody has a little darkness in them.

Now, they may not like it,

don't want to know about it,

but it's there.

Now, I'm talking about things like anger,

misery, sorrow, shame.

And they hear it.

I show it to 'em.

And they don't have to take it home.

You think that's what they expect from you?

They expect I can help their troubles.

Now, the reason I know that

is 'cause they write.

If their husband dies and they're left

with eight starving kids, they write.

If their sweetheart's done 'em wrong,

they write.

I don't know,

but I reckon they think

I'm some sort of Red Cross.

You can write this down.

Folk music, hillbilly,

it's sincere.

There ain't nothing phony.

Man sings a sad song,

he knows the sad.

There's, well, a lot of speculation

about the hard lives

that western or folk singers live.

What do you mean, "hard"?

Well, I mean, more like the women, whiskey.

If you're getting at something,

then get at it.

There are a lot of rumors, Mr. Williams,

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